Author Archives: Ricardo D. Cavazos, VBR content editor

Ricardo D. Cavazos is a Rio Grande Valley native and journalist who has worked as a reporter, editor and publisher at Texas newspapers. Cavazos formerly worked as a reporter and editorial writer at The Brownsville Herald, Dallas Times Herald, Corpus Christi Caller-Times and San Antonio Light. He served as editor of The Monitor in McAllen from 1991-1998 and from there served for 15 years as publisher at The Herald in Brownsville. Cavazos has been providing content for the Valley Business Report since 2018.

U.S. Grant Will Help Weslaco Expand Industrial Park

e-Brief Features Featured Manufacturing/Industrial News Comments
Weslaco's industrial parks are now a focal point for storing and shipping Mexican produce and other agricultural products to many U.S. markets.

Weslaco’s Mid Valley International Industrial Park is the recipient of a $1.5-million federal grant to expand opportunities for commercial, cold storage and warehousing businesses. The industrial park has seen significant growth in recent years, especially with companies involved in cold storage and shipment of produce from Mexico, as well as other agricultural commodities like cotton. The federal grant to Weslaco comes from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration. The…

Read More

Island Museum To Display Coastal History

e-Brief Features Featured News Recreation & Tourism Comments
Artist rendering of the new Historical Museum of South Padre Island (courtesy)

The city of South Padre Island will see the building of its long-awaited historical museum after being awarded a $1.5-million federal grant via funds from the American Rescue Plan.  The grant will go through the Economic Development Administration and will be matched with $375,00 in local funds. It is expected to generate $1.2 million in private investment. City leaders hope the new museum will be open by summer 2023. Community…

Read More

Silva Takes Top Leadership Spot At RGV Partnership

Community e-Brief Features Featured Moving On Up News Comments
Daniel Silva

The Rio Grande Valley Partnership has a new president and chief executive officer, and the new leader is a familiar face in the region’s economic development circles. Daniel Silva started as the Partnership’s new chief executive last week after an over three-year stint in the same role with the Mission Economic Development Corporation. Silva had a 15-years-plus stay with the Mission EDC, working his way up to the top spot.…

Read More

County Improving Drainage In Flood-Weary Towns 

Community Government News Comments
Maps show a network of canals and laterals that store and move water from Mercedes.

Hidalgo County Commissioner David Fuentes pointed to red and blue lines and arrows running through his precinct. Fuentes explained where $80 million of drainage improvements are occurring or are in plans in his Precinct 1. The crisscrossing of drains, laterals, canals and ditches form a patchwork of connected corridors to store and move water. It’s a network that isn’t always streamlined, but it’s vital in getting floodwaters out of towns…

Read More

Solis Comes “Full Circle” To Lead STC

Education News Comments
STC President Ricardo Solis, left, is working with his industrial training and economic development staffs to create a more skilled workforce in the Valley.

At 40, Ricardo Solis knew he needed a change.  Solis was over 15 years into a successful career in the public and private sectors in the fields of business and finance. He enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin to refresh and find a new career path. The predictable thing to do was to seek a doctorate in business administration with a master’s degree in international management earned years…

Read More

Project Casts Out To Reach Special Needs

e-Brief Features Featured News Non-Profit Recreation & Tourism Comments
Shane Wilson helps a special needs fishermen bring in a fish from the Laguna Madre.

The years had passed for Fito since his last fishing trip. A steady decline in health resulted in limits of his physical abilities. Once active in the outdoor life, the Brownsville resident had gone 15 years without fishing. Fito’s mother, Meg Beumel, thought those days were over for her son. Then via Facebook she heard of Fishing’s Future.  The nonprofit organization is based in South Padre Island and has chapters…

Read More

Los Pinos Builds Ties To Rural Communities

News Retail Comments
Edward Leal keeps a keen eye at the family's Los Pinos Hardware stores.

Mateo Leal saw the burgeoning growth of Rio Grande Valley cities in the early 2000s and noted a gap in how some markets were served. “How about the communities on the fringes of the Valley?” It’s a question Edward Leal recalled his father asking when the family first envisioned the hardware stores that today dot Hidalgo County. Rural areas on the outskirts of city limits were poised for growth but…

Read More

Professor Finds New Opportunities In Business

News Professional Services Transportation & Travel Comments
UTRGV professor Hanseng Lei has found opportunities and growth in Brownsville.

Hansheng Lei came to the United States from China in 2001 with no idea the endless frontier would lead him to Brownsville. Lei is a professor in the computer science department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His academic office on University Boulevard in Brownsville is a handful of blocks away from his business office at a warehouse that’s adjacent to the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates.…

Read More

Groundbreaking Highlights Travel Center’s Possibilities

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Mohamed Sharaf, center, with Mercedes City Manager Alberto Perez, left, and Mayor Oscar Montoya, right, at the groundbreaking for the Gateway travel center.

Mohamed Sharaf found kindred spirits in Mercedes that he said reminded him of his father’s farming and agricultural homeland in Syria. The vice president for development of the Waxahachie-based Victron Energy Inc. examined various South Texas markets for a site to build a high-end travel center that would be reminiscent of a Buc-ee’s, with a look reflecting a community’s history and heritage. In visiting the Rio Grande Valley, Sharaf was…

Read More

Garcia Awarded Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor

Community e-Brief Features Featured News Comments
Dr. Juliet Garcia

Brownsville native and longtime educator Dr. Juliet Garcia will receive the nation’s highest civilian honor today in Washington D.C.  President Joe Biden will award The Presidential Medal of Freedom to the former longtime president of the University of Texas at Brownsville at the White House. For Garcia, it is the culmination of both a life in education and as a local, regional and national leader in the field of higher…

Read More